Granulosa-theca cell tumors

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perryhillbay

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My vet is coming out on Tuesday to scan my mare for this.

Do any of you have any experiences of this condition? I am looking to find out more about changes in behaviour following surgery, how long it look for the behaviour to improve (if at all) and how was the horse operated on - i.e. full GA, or heavy sedation? Also, how long did they have to have off of work afterwards to recover.

Cheers
 
The article posted by Theresa sums up the important bits- I would definitely ask your vet about running a serum test as this makes diagnosis more accurate.

Laparoscopic surgery under standing sedation is the best option if your vet advises that her overy needs to be removed.
 
One of our mares had this two years ago, had full GA to get it removed (it was drained but was still the size of a football when it was removed) and 10 days at horsepital before coming home. She lost a lot of weight immediately after the surgery, but within a couple of months put it back on. She had about six months off before coming back into work. Before the surgery she became very stallion like and unpredictable, almost dangerous, even on the ground, but now she's back to the lovely mare we bred. Good luck with yours.
 
Scan is the definitive diagnosis but I'd always recommend you get the vets to take blood for an Inhibin assay - in combination a high result is conclusive for GCT in the mare. Catch is they are sent to the AHT or CSLS labs, who wait for enough to be sent to them to make the next step worth their while (about three weeks), then they send the bunch of them to run in a lab in the USA....this means you'll be waiting up to 4-5 weeks for the results - hence the scan too!:p

The surgery is fairly major but still considered routine and often done standing under sedation laparascopically using laser for removal. We used to do them under GA....more risk with the GA tbh and access is not as good.

Most horses settle in about a couple of months and it is often very successful and mares even retain good fertility!

Good luck
Imogen
 
Hi, just reading the thread - very interesting - just wondering what sort of costs are involved to see if insurance will cover it!!!

My mare would seems to have some of the symptoms that are described here and if it turns out to be, then standing sedation seems like the obvious route but having never been through the process before would just like some information on the whole thing!!!

Would be grateful for any information or suggestions but realise this thread is fairly old! :-)

Thanks
 
get the scan done first and see what they find. Dependant on size of tumor/ovary it will be done at university hospital via Standing sedation if small enough and removed via the flanks. the horse will be starved for 48 hrs before the operation. it doesnt leave a huge scar and horse will be there 2 days before op and anywhere from 2-5 days after op depending on how they recover. - once home mine had 2 weeks box rest with dailey hand walking, then 4 weeks in a tiny tiny paddock. Then start bringing back into work - she was immediatly a nicer mare. She had been a complete and utter cow before op. She has a small indent on her side where the ovary was taken and a tiny scar.

if too big to remove from the side it will be a GA and done under belly - 6 months off work.
 
We thought one of our mares had a GCT scanned with large cyst and we had bloods taken and everything came back as normal. Inhibin test was done in USA and came back within 3 weeks.
I was told if it was a GCT it could be removed (including ovary) standing heavy sedation, incision in flank cost approx £1000.
 
We had a mare had one removed last year. It was the size of a football but the fab vets at Rossdales removed it via standing sedation, she was back in work after 3 months and only now has a slight indentation in her side where the ovary was removed. The whole op cost around £2500. They can affect the mare very bad, our mare was like a dangerous stallion prior to the diagnosis, but was back to her sweet self almost straight away after the op.
 
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